AITA for yelling at a little girl to get out of my face?

A Reddit user recounted a tense situation at their infant’s doctor’s office, triggered by a packed waiting area and a distracted parent. The parent’s young daughter, around five years old, persistently encroached on the user’s space, messed with their things, and caused a formula spill as they were attending to their ailing child.

Following several courteous tries to guide the child elsewhere, the individual lost patience and shouted at the girl to leave them alone. This outburst created a disturbance, drawing disapproval from others present in the waiting area. The complete account and background information are provided below.

‘ AITA for yelling at a little girl to get out of my face?’

The pediatrician’s office for my infant is consistently packed, given the waiting area’s dimensions relative to the patient load. A certain level of restraint regarding one’s unruly child is necessary, due to the absence of playthings, a designated play zone, or ample room for foolishness. Cue the woman with four children: a newborn, a pair of toddlers, and a kindergartner (the little girl relevant to this account).

She definitely needed to bring an iPad or another adult because her children were running around this small space, screaming. The mother was only paying attention to the newborn, who was quietly breastfeeding, while she was engrossed in her phone.

Other individuals were consequently placed in the uncomfortable situation of needing to correct her children’s behavior. A number of people had earlier attempted to correct her children for various transgressions, which included bothering their children or being noisy. Her kindergarten-aged daughter, who obviously exhibited some form of developmental challenge, was completely captivated by my infant son and his stroller.

She inquired about maneuvering it, but I declined. Her proximity to my new baby was unsettling, and her overall behavior was irritating. To make matters worse, while I was attending to my own child, she rummaged through my diaper bag and tossed my belongings onto the chair and floor without my consent.

My brand-new baby was already irritable due to the fact that we were at the doctor because he was sick, so the last thing I wanted to do was look after someone else’s child. I attempted to be courteous, asking, “Honey, where is your mother?” – she indicates her mother – “Excuse me!” – indicates the child – The mother would then retrieve her child, only for the child to return to me. Over and over.

I advised her to remain with her mother. The little brat flat-out said, “I don’t want to,” and persisted in attempting to make contact with my son, my stroller, and our belongings. Ultimately, as I was trying to prepare a bottle while holding a wailing infant, I had to endure the little girl’s repetitive questioning of, “Why is your baby crying? Why is your baby crying! Make him stop!”

Ugh, I can’t stand her. And of course, she has to be the one to bump my baby’s formula off the table and have it spill all over my stroller. Now I have no formula, my baby is still crying, and I’m left with a big mess that I’m not equipped to handle. I’m so frustrated. I yell at the kid, “SEE WHAT YOU’VE DONE? I’M NOT YOUR MOTHER, AND I’M NOT HERE TO BABYSIT YOU.”

“YOU’RE ANNOYING ME. LEAVE ME ALONE!” Everyone stared at me as if I was the meanest person alive. A Spanish-speaking woman did, in fact, call me a very derogatory name. The young girl begins to weep. I will not apologize. When the mother approaches me, I inform her that she should have been supervising her child, and that is the point I am willing to defend at all costs. So, Reddit, am I the bad guy?

Here’s the feedback from the Reddit community:

amaraame −  NTA. Some kids just don’t get the point until you raise your voice because their parents have never enforced boundaries.

esdietz33 −  NTA (the other mother is) you shouldn’t have to watch her kid in a waiting room. She should have kept the kids with her and they shouldn’t be touching your stuff. Maybe could have said something directly to the mom but obviously sending her back she should have taken the hint.

Letsgo_321 −  NTA. The fact that the child practically harassed you and then made it so you couldn’t feed your child would probably drive many people to yelling. The mother is definitely the biggest a**hole. For evidently not being able to control her offsprings. The child isn’t exactly an a**hole if they have issues.

TiKi_Effect −  NTA. I say this because if it was your kid doing that everyone would be calling you the a**hole. You are not that kids parent, or the kid help, so that kids parent should step up if she wants all the damn kids.

Archon__X −  NTA, normally I’d say you overreacted by yelling at the girl but **she was endangering your newborn** so f**k her feelings. She’ll get over it.

thiscouldbemassive −  ESH I get you are on your last nerve. I’ve been there with a fussy baby, but you can’t take it out on little kids. You got to be the adult in the room.

takoyakifiend −  ESH. Obviously the mom sucks ass. She should have definitely brought entertainment. I know it’s hard to take care of four kids, especially if one has a disability like you said but god damn, watch your kid.

I don’t understand why you thought raising your voice at a child with disabilities would improve things. Keep in mind that adults should address other adults directly. I wouldn’t have called you an a**hole if you had directed that energy toward the child’s mother instead.

TwoBeanAndCheese −  NTA ..people need to care for their children if they are going to take them in public.

lefkoz −  ESH Yeah that situation sound awful. The little girl sounds like a demon. And the mom was apathetic. You screamed in the face of a 4-6 year old who you think had special needs. I understand why you lost it. But that doesn’t make it okay. You’re also TA here.

AreyoutheA −  NTA while you could of handled the situation better, the difference between how you handle an annoying kid vs an annoying adult is thus. You immediately or quickly yell at the adult. For a kid, you are polite, then get their guardian, and if their guardian doesn’t discipline them you try to gently discipline them,

but there comes a moment when raising your voice becomes necessary. Since you refrained from swearing or employing excessively insulting words, I struggle to understand the issue. It’s unreasonable to expect someone to passively endure a child’s torment.